Golfers More Likely To Make Par Putt than Birdie Putt of Same Length

I golf a lot, and this seems like A "No kidding..." type of statement to me.<p>Birdie putts are less common, even for great golfers, and so when it comes up everyone tends to put a little bit more pressure on themselves, consciously or unconsciously, to capitalize on the birdie putt.<p>Even when you have a short one (less than 5 feet) you friends will say "Oh, don't miss..." etc.

Maybe I don't understand because I'm bad at golf and don't get a whole lot of birdie putts, but when I do I always go for it because getting a birdie is great, and getting a bogie is pretty average for me. I've never once just hoped to get it close, even for an eagle.

This article shows a tendency among many of today's economists to make the mistake of thinking they know it all. For all they know, there is some hidden benefit to avoiding bogeys and settling for pars. Maybe even one bogey would hurt your morale far more than a birdie would help it, especially if you're a great player. Maybe there isn't an easy way to avoid that effect, and it affects how well you play. Who knows? That could easily serve as a rational justification for this behavior. But most economists have bought in to the idea that they know exactly what is rational and what isn't.

Maybe because they're so excited that they might make birdie on the hole that they lose their concentration?